Hamilton fastest in dry then crashes in the wet

Lewis Hamilton set the quickest time of the second free practice session in Canada, but ended the session against the barriers at the hairpin.

The Mercedes AMG PETRONAS driver set a best time of 1m15.988s in the early stages of the session, but aquaplaned off the circuit when heavy rain struck midway through proceedings.

Hamilton, running the intermediate Pirelli tyre, was unable to stop his car due to the amount of water on track, and went nose-first into the barrier, ending his session and bringing out the red flag.

Unlike in the first session, Mercedes did not have it all their own way, with Sebastian Vettel posting the second fastest time for the Scuderia Ferrari team, just a fraction of a second faster than his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, while Nico Rosberg ended fourth.

Pastor Maldonado ended a positive day for the Lotus F1 Team with the fifth fastest time, ahead of Williams Martini Racing driver Valtteri Bottas, while their respective team-mates Romain Grosjean and Felipe Massa followed in seventh and eighth.

Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo completed the top ten in the two Infiniti Red Bull Racing machines, just ahead of Nico Hulkenberg of Sahara Force India, while Marcus Ericsson was twelfth quickest for the Sauber F1 Team.

Carlos Sainz Jr was the best placed Scuderia Toro Rosso driver in thirteenth, ahead of the second Force India of Sergio Perez, while Fernando Alonso could only set the fifteenth fastest time in the leading of the McLaren-Honda machines.

Max Verstappen was sixteenth for Toro Rosso ahead of the second Sauber of Felipe Nasr, while Jenson Button was only eighteenth in the second McLaren, ahead of only the two Manor F1 Team drivers, with Roberto Merhi ahead of Will Stevens for the second session running.

After Hamilton’s off, the session was restarted, but no one ventured out on to the circuit, with the rain still falling heavily.